The animal body, including humans, needs potassium for maintaining its health. Potassium is of fundamental importance in the ionic exchange of cellular metabolism, and it is the predominating cation of intracellular fluids and erythrocytes. Potassium ions participate in a number of essential physiological processes, including the maintenance of intracellular tonicity, the transmission of nerve impulses, the contraction of muscles, and the maintenance of normal renal function.
A deficit of potassium or potassium depletion, also known as hypokalemia, can be induced in the body in a variety of ways. A deficit of potassium may occur when the dietary intake is less than the daily animal requirement needed to substantially avoid a deficiency state. Potassium depletion also may occur through potassium losses from the gastrointestinal tract such as by vomiting or diarrhea, by losses through the genitourinary system, the latter often as a consequence of the use of diuretic drugs and minerals-corticoids, and in diseases characterized by an increased secretion of glucocorticoids.
The common treatment of a potassium depleted state generally consists in orally administering potassium chloride. While this treatment may supply the needed treatment, there are reports of gastro-intestinal ulceration associated with the use of this particular compound. The pharmacology of potassium therapy is presented in The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 4th Ed., by Goodman and Gilman, pages 794 to 801, 1970 published by the MacMillian Co., and in Pharmacology In Medicine, by Drill, pages 702 to 704, 1965, published by McGraw-Hill, Inc.